for the all-important kdegames :) I think all we're missing now is kdevelop.

For those who don't know, new packages have to be processed manually by the FTP admins so they can take a little time to enter the archive. Once they are in, updates should be fairly rapid. kdebase and kdelibs have already seen a couple of updates.

I installed kdenetwork from that source and kmail won't start. (error msg: "kmail: relocation error: kmail: undefined symbol: _ZN8DwString4nposE") Is that a shared library problem?? Does anyone know how to fix it? Baring that, how can uninstall all of the packages that were installed when I typed "apt-get install kdenetwork"? Removing kdenetwork itself doesn't seem to remove those packages.

> how can uninstall all of the packages that were installed when I typed
> "apt-get install kdenetwork"

You definitely want to take a look at aptitude. apt-get itself cannot do that, only with the help of deb-foster and/or deborphan. However, aptitude can, much more easily than with apt-get, deborphan and deb-foster and it's very handy in various other, different ways.

For me, aptitude definitely is a "must have" to manage a Debian installation. It features a command line interface and an ncurses based, menu controlled UI with mouse support. Both are equally powerful, you can choose one depending on your preferences. I personally like the ncurses interface very much.

Thanks, Gunter and anonymous. I found a new set of debs that work before I read this, but I went ahead and purged libmimelib1 anyway to avoid potential future problems. As for aptitude, it is quite nice. Thanks for the tip.

I've tried to install KDE 3.1.4 on Sid. Apt-get had removed large number of packages and stuck. I decided to return to 3.1.3, but after I did kmail didn't work ("kmail: relocation error: kmail: undefined symbol"). Thanks to your admice it's back to the living.

Now the question is: how the hell would I make out what to do? I mean with libmimelib1, without reading this thread? I've been trying many things... including downgrade a lot of stuff, without success. What was the clue that should have pointed me at libmimelib1, and that so obviously I've been missing?

I was trying to use the 3.1-adressbooks' ldap-support and failed. I entered the server name, port and base dn.

Entering something in the incremental search field did not work. In the help-file, they talk about a 'magnifying-glass-over-a-book'-icon in the toolbar, which I do not have.

Yesterday, I was told it's because I don't have the sql-io-slave installed, but i thought sql and ldap are quite unrelated?!

So, did anyone get that to work? If yes, how? Also, I have only around 200 entries in the directory, can I have my address-book automatically filled with these entries? I don't want to have to search for them every time.

I tried this earlier today and had some success. After configuring kaddressbook to use one or more ldap servers, you need to click one of the toolbar icons. For me, I believe it was the right most icon. I'd be more specific, but my test machine is at work. If you don't have this icon, as you've said, you should try configuring your toolbar and adding the icon. The incremental search does not search the ldap servers. I find this feature very cool, but does anbody know if it's possible to get KMail to see the LDAP contacts? Currently, I have to add the LDAP contacts to my local address book for them to show up in KMail.

Is it possible to get the old way to work of kadressbook without ldap ?
I don't need ldap for my contact :( I am the only user in my box and it is stupid to waste time learning ldap, configuruing it,... just to store thousand of contact.

I don't think the criticism was for the level of support, but rather for the way it's organized. I think he's right on the ball with that criticism too. Why are Window Behavior and Window Decorations not in the same submenu? Why are Style, Theme Manager, and Window Decorations separate items (they all sound like the same thing)? What is the Desktop submenu for anyway -- I thought KDE *was* the desktop. Why is there a Behavior panel and a Window Behavior panel?

I'm mostly playing devil's advocate here -- I've learned to navigate the control center after years of experience. For a newbie, though, I can't imagine it makes any sense at all. Heck, it doesn't make any sense at all to *me*, I just know where things are now. I think it might have improved slightly since 3.0 but it's still a godawful mess.

Also, maybe it's OT but I don't see the resolution control panel that was mentioned in the review. Any hints as to where I can find it?

Right Click -> Edit File Type?
Yes, after updating to 3.1 for some reason some of my file associations got lost so that some files e.g. the trash were opened with kuickshow - that's when I used that option.

.. oops wrong forum ... anyway yes. Think about how to simplify simplify simplify KDE. The KControl needs some serious love and making over from a UI and HID specialist.

And yest it's nice to have nice file picker widget and all (compared to Gnome - ugh!) but, uhh, folks - KDE's filepicker is OUT OF CONTROL. Thje filepicker itself is turning into a miniature application. I think it good to pay attention to MacOS/NeXT etc. less crap = faster and less bugs.

> less crap = faster and less bugs
where are the bugs in the KDE file picker?
I don't know of any and I love the dialog really: it's beautiful und funcional. And also fast - the windows file picker is worse.

No! Wrong way IMHO! The fine thing in KDE is that it's _not_ oversimplified. If you want a "simple" OS/GUI choose Windows, MacOS or Unix/twm or fvwm2 maybe.

I can't see what's wrong with KDE's filepicker. Yes, any file picker _is_ (and should be considered) a miniature application. The KDE folks are the first to do it right since Peter Norton... (yes, I know mc ;). They give me the opportunity to do things more than one way, and being a Perl geek I consider this to be a good thing.

Same goes with the KDE control center. I can't hear those complaints "oh boy, that's too much gadgets here, I really can't find the one I am looking for..." (ok, we'll add it for you ;). Thinking that you can reduce the "searching" by removing gadgets while maintaining configurability is thinking too simple... (pun intended ;).

Aestethics is something one can't discuss about, so I leave it at saying that KDE is the desktop environment with the best functionality : sexiness ratio I know of (and thrust me, I know many). I also like Gnome, and WindowMaker for example, but both of them spend much on looks while not reaching the usability of KDE for me. They are (and traditionally were) better when it comes to themeing and such. But that's not on the top of my wishlist anyway...

The good news is, there _are_ simpler (in your sense of simplicity) things out there. But for myself, I want my KDE to stay as "gadgety" as it is.

This is interesting to say the least. I use both KDE and Gnome. I would have thought KDE did much more/(cared more) about the 'look' than Gnome. Not to say Gnome is bad. I like it better than KDE in terms of the look.(Hate Windows). I lke its functionality though. I totally agree that the situation is not good. Its too difficult to figure out what to configure to do what. Here is a proposal for you people who do the developing. I liek the side bar in the control center, but I do not think it should have sub menus. Just the categories like, 'Desktop Look', 'Sound server', Kernel Tuning' and so on. The other submenus should be tabs across the top of the Control Center window. No more submenus after that. Maybe pop up dialogs. If it can't fit into that scheme then something wrong.

Do aggregate some of these options.

Do not have 3.1 yet though, using Redhat. Will get down to getting it soon.

Cramming too much into each panel would be way too confusing. KDE (and probably *most* things open source) offers a lot of flexibility, which means a good deal of detail that can be configured under each category. And I don't think the community would have it any other way -- I certainly like my apps to look and behave "my way". So each config category has to be fairly specific. I'm really happy that KDE takes care of so much of it.

I use M$ at work, so I certainly haven't seen a better navigation model to make suggestions from. [Does anybody know where the "Console" applet from NT's control panel is under Win2K? It's amazing that a screen buffer is not allocated to each window by default.]

If you've got suggestions for improving the Config navigation, I'm sure the folks at usability.kde.org would love to get into a dialogue.

Personally, I'm really happy with the KDE Control Centre's "Search" function. I use that whenever I don't already know which panel holds an option that I want, and it's never let me down. Very powerful and innovative, in my opinion.

Well, it seems to differ somewhat. I know that some people have had problems, but I have three installations that work. Two desktops that are more or less rock steady, and one laptop with a few problems.
So, while not perfect, they are definitely worth a try.

I'm using them right now, and I'd say they "mostly" work, with one glaring exception. For some reason, KMail doesn't seem to do mail checking except on startup. Interval checking doesn't do anything, nor does checking mailboxes manually. Go figure.